They convinced one judge that they were right. I don't think they won any other arguments.
The book written to malign the McCanns to which they took exception because it was impeding
their search for Madeleine, was a book full of lies.
I highlight it as
their search for Madeleine because it was written and published at a time when no-one else in the entire world was looking for her. The fact is Judicial Police hadn't been since the focus of Portuguese investigations had been switched from the search for Madeleine McCann to focus on the best way to go about prosecuting the her parents for her demise.
Ultimately present activity on Madeleine's case which is an evidence led investigation into stranger abduction has achieved exactly what the Portuguese judiciary endeavoured to cover up with the planned outcome ending up in the European Court.
There are no winners here with as you have indicated the biggest loser being Madeleine. But I think your pots wallow in eulogising what is in effect a Pyrrhic victory for Portugal with Madeleine's parents totally vindicated and Portuguese Jurisprudence at all levels well and truly put under microscopic scrutiny.
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/jurisprudence#:~:text=Jurisprudence%20From%20the%20Latin%20term%20juris%20prudentia%2C%20which,branches%2C%20with%20four%20types%20being%20the%20most%20common.
I don't think that was ever meant to happen. All was well until "stranger danger" in the form of Brueckner loomed.
One thing it explains for me is why Amaral did what he did when this unscripted event negated the achievements of the Portuguese courts.
Thing is while you might be ecstatic about the ECHR decision, you might pause to contemplate the comparison I have drawn and the reasons making it irrelevant.